Carney On Obamacare Enrollments: 'We Don't Have Hard Numbers, But We Dispute Their Numbers'

We Have To Pass The Numbers To Find Out What's Wrong With Them

In today's press briefing, Jay Carney was asked about the number of Obamacare premium payments that have been made. In other words, the total number of people actually, factually covered, not including window shoppers and unpaid accounts.

"We dispute their numbers. We don't have hard, concrete numbers, but we dispute them," the press secretary reasonably explained.

The question followed a report from the House Energy Committee on how many enrollees had actually paid for their chosen Obamacare plans. The report stated, “as of April 15, 2014, only 67 percent of individuals and families that had selected a health plan in the federally facilitated marketplace had paid their first month’s premium and therefore completed the enrollment process.” Just one quarter of those who had paid into the system were young people aged 18 to 34 – the group the Obama administration most requires to sign up in order to provide solvency to the failing system. The bulk of those who signed up came from the 35-64 age group.

Carney says this is not data that is traditionally shared with government and emphasizes that the data is coming from "profit-making" companies. Chuck Todd was asking specifically about how many people included in the White House's own reported numbers as successful Obamacare enrollees - the number 8 million that is being touted and bragged about every day - aren't actually covered by insurance at this time, and whether that might change their success line by up to or in excess of one million people.

Carney's answer is that he doesn't know, but also no. They don't have the answer, but they dispute the answer anyone else might have. That's like having your cake and denying it, too.